First modern : Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts / George E. Thomas.

Author
Thomas, George E. [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
  • Philadelphia : Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, [2017]
  • Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press
Description
127 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Marquand Library - Remote Storage: Marquand Use OnlyN680 .T46 2017 Browse related items Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Summary note
    From the Crystal Palace to the skyscraper and on to the functional aesthetic of the German Bauhaus, the development of modern architecture required less than seven decades. Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts warrants a central place in this narrative. Unlike the earlier buildings that made fragmentary and disconnected use of the latest industrial materials and systems, the Academy project combined the critical elements of modern logistical planning-steel and iron construction and modern plumbing, heating, and ventilation systems designed to serve a workplace and a school-with the architectural expression of the age. Moreover, rather than seeking to reify the past, architects Furness & Hewitt had chosen the most dynamic of modern forces, the machine, as both inspiration and ornament. Instead of being based on the rearview mirror, the new Academy, opened in 1876, looked to the present and the future. This created a civic museum and school building whose expressive style referenced both its updated purpose and a novel attitude toward history. The Academy's machine for making art can rightly be termed the first modern building.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references.
    Contents
    • Foreword / David R. Brigham
    • First modern: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts / George E. Thomas. Ahead of the curve ; Cause and effect ; Architecture in the city of applied science ; The changing board: businessmen, manufacturing interests, and a "new departure" ; The selected site ; The competition ; The choices ; Creative friction ; "Comparatively unsolved difficulties" ; Antecedents ; The new client and the new theory of design ; Building the Academy: the panic of 1873 ; Learning from the Academy ; Reception ; History as myth, myth as history ; First Modern ; Today ; Appendix. The subscription list
    • Chronology / Isaac Kornblatt-Stier.
    ISBN
    • 9780943836430 ((hardcover ; : alk. paper))
    • 0943836433
    LCCN
    2017018720
    OCLC
    980437704
    Statement on language in description
    Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...
    Other views
    Staff view

    Supplementary Information